Hello, Sailor

Oh you'll remember these fellows surely? That's right, Sailor. 'Girls Girls Girls', 'A Glass of Champagne' As camp as a row of pink tents and very much a part of the 70's glam rock 'scene' (See how easily I slip into pop journo jargon...I'm such a hepcat!) Sailor graced TOTP a few times. never being very musically sophisticated even back then I liked them. I loved the honky tonk piano sound they made and the whole sailor image. Fast forward thirty three years and I've got their greatest hits CD and do you know what? The music's still great, it stands up as camp as ever and as much fun too. Their whole image, maybe it's even a concept ,(whatever that means) is of sailors ashore in foreign ports trawling the red light districts. There's a lovely innocence to their lyrics, their songs a re set in paris and Amsterdam and the most exotic thing they can think of is a samba in some South American port. It's a lovely B Movie ethos. You can imagine Robert Mitchum or Robert Ryan in the movie versions.
I urge you all to go out and rediscover Sailor.

The price of power

Now I ask you, who would want to be Prime Minister when the changes in 10 years are this profound...

And Gordon, if you look like this now...

Powerhouse II: SHOCK! HORROR!

Drugs den revealed

Apr 24 2008
By JENNIFER FINNEGAN, Formby Times

Police expose shocking evidence at notorious property
THE notorious Powerhouse site is being used as a drink and drugs den.
Police have uncovered drug paraphenalia and empty alcohol containers on their latest call-out to the trouble-spot.
Officers invited the Formby Times to accompany them to the site where they had been called the night before.
There was evidence of drink and drugs use, with home-made smoking devices and tin foil, which had been burnt for use in smoking drugs.
There were also empty cans of alcohol, and whoever was using the area has built a den with seats and tarpaulin over the top.
Graffiti has been sprayed inside the den, with a picture of a cannabis plant drawn on the side of one bench.
Sgt Steve Matthews said: "We were called to the site in relation to drugs and, effectively, there have been drugs present.
"We haven’t found drugs but there is clear evidence that drugs are being used here."
Inspector Martin Melia added: "The responsibility lies with the owner. We could present him with evidence that alcohol and drugs are being abused on his property and he should secure it.
"Drinking alcohol and taking drugs can lead to other anti-social behaviour such as damage to vehicles on their way home."
Acting Sgt Alan Wrigg said: "It was suggested to us that kids were playing with what could have been drugs at the site and they had been found stashed behind a brick in the Powerhouse.
"There was no evidence that drugs were present but we found the site in the condition described with drug paraphernalia and empty alcohol cans.
"The evidence is there that drugs have been used. It’s little tell-tale signs that suggest drug use and quite obvious signs people are drinking down there."
Although not the owner, Mr Mike McComb has an option to buy the site and says he has spent £500,000 on security over the past three years.
He said: "It is a never-ending battle. We go weekly to see whether our security has been breached."
Following this latest incident, he is instructing building contractors to renew security measures.
Mr McComb says his ultimate goal is to convert the site into a residential development, which he is in discussion with Sefton Council about.
"That would be an end to all the problems," he adds.

Ah, local newspapers! Shock Horror What an article, if Jennifer Finnegan doesn't get a post on the Daily Mail there's no justice. Drugs, alcohol...a drugs den indeed. Well really! Teenagers drinking and smoking a bit of weed (I'd spotted the torn up Rizla packets scattered about myself but didn't immediately think drugs den) They've even painted a cannabis leaf on a bench! Reefer madness! we'll all be murdered in our beds. They've also painted a skull and crossbones on the wall of their shelter (sorry, 'den') Does that mean they're pirates? are they sailing a home-made Black Pearl up the river Alt to prey on the container ships going in to Seaforth?...or is that taking things a bit too far? Over reacting maybe?

OK, as I said in the first post about this the teenagers don't own the land, Mike McComb does. Unlike him however the teenagers are actually using the land. Apart from a bit of mess and a bit of personal use ganja I don't see the harm.

Even reading between the lines of the Police's comments you can see a hint of common sense. It's all 'could' lead to this and 'can' cause that. They even acknowledge that no drugs have been found on site but there is 'clear evidence that drugs are being used here'

I suppose unexplained footprints are evidence that Bigfoot exists too.

I thought there'd be a reaction against the Trails but I hope it isn't all just bulldozed.

One last thing, it says that the owner has spent half a million quid on security at the site. All I've ever seen there is a chain and padlock on the gates. It's a big padlock and a very funky blue padded cover on the chain but £500,000! I wish he'd come to me for some more security stuff...I've got a spare fence panel I can let him have for a hundred grand.

Powerhouse

Looming on the very edge of Formby, right next to the railway line, there is a disused factory known locally as The Powerhouse. It's an ugly building with sealed up windows and loading bays blocked by huge piles of soil and rubble. Such places naturally attract kids with nothing better to do and nowhere better to go and this is evidenced by the amount of graffiti on the walls and the drifts of cans about the site. It also attracts dog walkers, amongst them me and Jeff the wonder dog. The site is alive with rabbits too and Jeff occasionally spots and chases one there. He's a greyhound but wait, I'm digressing. Next to the approach road to the Powerhouse there is a wooded hollow which leads to the railway and it's this area that I want to talk about.
These same kids have turned it into a skateboard park. There's been a serious amount of work done here by these 'feckless ne'er do wells'. Wooden walkways have been constructed, earthwork ramps incorporating the leftover Calor gas bottles abandoned by the factory owners, water jumps and embankments. Just beside it in the wood itself there's a fairly substantial shelter of wood and tarpaulin with benches inside. I walked there one morning and found a cache of tools tied up with a chain and combination lock and every time I go there there's always some kind of an addition to some part of the ...well I'm going to call it a project because that's what it is.
More interestingly there is also what I can only describe as a shrine. A large flat piece of plywood has been set up like a billboard and spraypainted on it are the words' RIP HARO' The 'O' of Haro is represented as a solid white oval and inside it is painted a trident shape. I haven't any idea who Haro might have been and whether or not he's even real (or even a he!) A flag made of an old checked shirt flies on a flagpole nearby and there are broken bikes hanging in the trees. The other day there was a bicycle wheel, spray painted orange and set up like a steering wheel on a column in the same area. It's a fascinating site. I shall try to get some photos to post here because I fear that the authorities may wish to get rid of this place. I know it's not their land but as with the story of Lobby (see this blog earlier) what harm is being done? No-one else is using the land for anything. Watch this space!

D'oh!

Last week I had to go to London for a half day assessment with a view to getting a job with a Government Department. Because the assessment started at 8:00am I had to travel down the night before and book overnight accommodation...in London.
Now I'm scared of London, don't mind admitting it. I have a real hick from the sticks fear of the big city, a quasi Dickensian image of a fogbound London, horse shit in the gutters, and Hansom cabs plying their trade while troops of quick fingered pickpockets prey on the newly arrived yokels.
OK, that's perhaps a bit strong. I don't even know if I can claim to be a yokel or a hick when I come from Liverpool but you take my point. I was afeared of the dreaded underground, finding the place i neede to be, finding my hotel-oh I was in a right state. Imagine my delight when the tube station was on the same road as the assessment centre which was in turn within eyesight of my hotel.
Result! Apart from the shock of being charged £3.25 for a pint of Bombardier bitter I was well pleased.
The next morning I turn up at the assessment with everything except photo ID. Despite there being a name badge for me and my having copies of all the forms they had emailed me and despite my argument that who else could I possibly be? they couldn't 'do ' me.
Ever had to kill six and three quarter hours in London when you feel like a dope and just want the world to swallow you up?
It was an omen.
My next interview is with a firm that is ten minutes walk from my house.
That's more like it.

The Catbird

Just thought I'd share a bit of nonsense verse with the world.

The Catbird

There once was a cat that climbed a tree and wouldn't come down at all.
He built a nest in a sheltered spot and said he'd never fall.
Well he never fell, but his fur wore off and feathers grew instead.
And he grew two wings where his front legs were and a sharp beak on his head.
He learned to sing when the sun came up and sleep when the bright sun fell.
He even tried to lay an egg and he managed very well.
The catbird sat upon his egg and kept it warm and dry.
But nothing hatched from the catbird's egg and nobody knows why.